These are student reflections from their experiences at FMX & ITFS 2019 in Stuttgart, Germany.

This page contains 1-4 entries out of 16.

1_Artist Talks by Aline Schoch

2_Not Good Enough (Yet) by Sabrina Jollat

3_Irreführender Titel by Kathrin Ungricht

4_I Learned… by Jacqueline Carter

Artist Talks by Aline Schoch

Es war eine intensive Woche. Viel Input, manch guter, manch unerträglicher, manch mir rätselhafter, manch inspirierender. Am spannendsten und hilfreichsten für eigene Projekte fand ich die Artist Talks, die jeweils am Mittag nach dem Screening im Festival-Café stattfanden. Meistens hatte ich nach den Filmblöcken nur eine verschwommene Sauce im Kopf. Die Talks halfen dabei, mein Kopf zu klären. Zudem war es auch sehr spannend, die Personen hinter den von mir verschieden gewerteten Filmen zu sehen und sprechen zu hören. Personen wie Signe Baumane, Floor Adams oder Alex Widdowson hatten eine Präsenz, die mich sehr beeindruckte. Auch schufen die Talks zusätzliche Hintergründe zu den Filmen, die sie oft für mich viel zugänglicher machten oder das schon eher schlechte Gefühl bestätigten. Auch war es inspirierend zu hören, wie sie vorgegangen sind bei der Produktion der Filme, wo sie anstanden und womit sie konfrontiert waren. Ehrliche Antworten und inspirierende Gedanken, es lohnt sich dort reinzuhören.

Not Good Enough (Yet) by Sabrina Jollat

On Wednesday I attended the talks of Doug Chiang (Lucasfilm) and Bobby Chiu (Imaginism). I was impressed by their works and how different they are.

Doug Chiangs pictures are incredibly detailed and technical. He worked among others as concept artist for Star Wars Episode I and II as well as Episode VII and «Rogue One».

It was incredible to see his progress and how well he could draw as a thirteen old boy and how much he loves to be creative. Even now he’s constantly pushing himself to be faster with his pictures by for example learning 3D modeling within three months in his free time.

Bobby Chiu is a different kind of concept artist. He’s more focused on creating concept arts for creatures and human figures. He does not shy away from fleshing out only the important parts of the picture like the eyes or overall facial expression and to not waste any time on the other parts if they are well enough for the observer to understand.

Another difference is that Bobby Chiu built his work entirely over the internet. Fourteen years ago, he was convinced that he’d be able to get jobs entirely over the web and not having to actually move to the big producer cities.

Over the years, likes and shares over the internet gained more and more importance with apps liked facebook, intstagram or artstation. Some artists like for example Loish have over 1.5 million followers.

At this point, only if you follow one of those concept artists, you really see on what movies they have worked. One thing Bobby Chiu would like to change is that a concept artist’s name is much better known once a movie is out.

What I learned on those two panels is that:

1. I may not be good enough to really become a concept artist. YET. That doesn’t mean it has to stay an unreachable dream. It needs time, dedication, a lot of work and learning.

2. If I ever should be able to create things in the industry, I should try not to sell under my worth.

I Learned… by Jacqueline Carter

I arrived at FMX with the intention to learn as much as I can and to implement this new knowledge in my current projects, both game and film related. I was mostly excited to attend panels relating to concept art and behind the scenes content from films I love.

The panels gave me a realistic insight into the industry, not just to how each individual studio works, but also what current artists are capable of. The concepts and illustrations that the artists revealed to us made me realize this is a job I can do, that it doesn’t feel unreachable compared to before. I sometimes thought I would never get up to the level that Pixar or Dreamworks artists have, but I realize now that I can.

It was disappointing when two panels that I was interested in were overlapping, but I tried my best to go to as many panels as I could. I wanted to make the most out of my FMX trip. I was especially sad about not attending the Spiderverse Stylized Lighting and Rendering panel, because the types of visualization I am most inspired from are about stylization. Sure, hyperrealism is mindblowing, but stylized visuals, for me, are timeless.

The recruiting area felt very intimidating. Having personel from all these large companies was easily overwhelming. I hope to one day come back with a proper portfolio and apply to a studio or company I will love to work in with a coordinated team. The showcase area had plenty of new software, hardware, and updates to exhibit. I tried to look into new software that would help me develop my Bachelor film and thesis, which I will have to do next semester.

The ITFS was a wonderful experience as well. Being able to watch what others around the globe have been making, it’s almost as if I am experiencing a different culture. I realized what was happening with the rest of the world with the different styles of storytelling and visuals from different countries, personal experiences, and cultures. It helped me plan for what types of projects I can do in the future.

A little side note: the shopping strip had an ice cream stand every few meters and I probably ate 2-3 ice cream cones a day….

Going to new places inspires new ideas for my projects, even for the most mundane things. For example, I was crossing the street when the cross light suddenly turned red. There was no warning, and the cars were slowly moving up the road. I had to run the rest of the way and this scared and irritated me. From this exprience, I learned to always add a warning to different obstacles or add some kind of indicator for anything the player can interact with in the game, or be interacted with.

I left FMX with a giddiness and confidence I haven’t felt in a very long time. It got me excited to tackle on new projects head on and I hope to improve them in the process.